The Canon 1D C review

Friday, 26 April, 2013 16:11

Iscorama anamorphic on the 1D C and my test footage at Vimeo

I shot with the Canon 1D C and Canon C100 Cinema EOS cameras recently with SlashCam in Berlin. The 1D C is the most Jekyll and Hyde camera I’ve ever used and a difficult camera to review. The 1D C is a marriage of beautiful 4K images and an unwilling partner who hasn’t shifted an inch to accommodate it.

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1D X has traces of 1D C firmware but Magic Lantern ‘will never touch 1D series’ as Canon threatens potential hackers with legal trouble

Wednesday, 09 January, 2013 20:02

A few months ago I reported back what Canon had told me officially at Photokina – that the 1D C had some very minor hardware changes over the 1D X (like a headphone socket) but that the camera was fundementally the same camera with a firmware update to enable 4K recording. The Canon product manager was technically knowledge and utterly adamant this was the case, there wasn’t a hint of doubt in his eyes when I had this discussion face to face on the basis of mutual trust.

Later Canon were keen to point out I had got it all wrong and that the 1D C had a different circuit board, etc. etc. and was well worth your extra $6,000.

So why are there traces of 1D C firmware in the 1D X?

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Canon launch £4000 Cinema EOS C100

Wednesday, 29 August, 2012 11:15

Canon C100 Cinema EOS

UPDATE: CVP in the UK are taking pre-orders at just £4162+ VAT (£4999) which is much better than expected. The initial price quotes by sources was $8000. When the Adorama / B&H pre-orders start, will update the pricing info again

Canon today launched the much speculated Canon C100, the budget version of the C300. Initially set for a price under the Sony FS700 (around $8000), the camera is double the price of a used FS100 but features built-in ND filters and the same sensor as the C300. The design and handling looks fantastic, it is even smaller than the C300 (by some 15%) but the major compromise is the codec which is now AVCHD at 24Mbit 4-2-0.

However HDMI is uncompressed so for effectively another $300 you can record broadcast standard material to a Blackmagic HyperDeck Shuttle in ProRes.

I really like the C100 at first glance. But will it be enough to compete with the FS700?

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Canon EOS-M mirrorless unveiled – Return of the EF-M system

Sunday, 22 July, 2012 02:30

Canon EOS M

Canon last had an EF-M camera and lenses in 1991 (inset, LCD screen pic)

The Canon EOS M mirrorless camera with new EF-M mount and lenses is due to be officially announced on Monday. The EOS M seems to be closest to the Sony NEX C3. The lack of physical controls hint that it is too basic to compete with the NEX 5N or NEX 7.

Because it is designed to work with Canon’s new STM AF lenses which use phase detect AF on the sensor I am 100% certain the EOS M will have the same 18MP APS-C CMOS as the T4i / 650D. Using the G1X sensor would make it incompatible with the very EOS-M lenses it is pictured with at launch. The 18-55mm EF-M STM and 22mm F2 EF-M STM.

Will the new mount be the basis of a C100 affordable digital cinema camera, following the strategy of Panasonic and Sony?

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Making sense of the Canon Cinema 1D 4K DSLR from a film industry perspective

Friday, 13 April, 2012 00:29

Canon Cinema 1D

Above: the Cinema 1D, a 4K video camera and a stills camera second

Today Canon made official their plans to enter the high end cinema and TV production market with two very competitively priced products relative to the current industry standards – the Arri Alexa, Sony F35/F65 and Red EPIC.

How do they fit in?

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